TheChat: Roy Blunt, Jason Kander outline campaign themes

▪ “I’m going to be talking about a government that does things, that helps create better jobs.” — Republican Sen. Roy Blunt talking about the campaign he’ll run this fall against Democrat Jason Kander.

“People are looking for somebody who presents a very different choice, somebody who is very clearly an outsider to Congress and to Washington.” — Kander talking about what he’ll emphasize.

Blunt is running against emotion in the form of voter anger directed at incumbents. He’s also running against a trend toward outsiders. Kander is the outsider in this race. (link via johncombest.com).

▪ “Chris Koster was so afraid of our campaign that he felt that the only way that he could win is by trying to rig the election by choosing the opponent that he was going to run against.” — Missouri Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens, referring to the Democratic Governors Association that weighed in on the GOP primary by running anti-Greitens ads in the campaign’s final days.

“I don't get what this has to do with running the government.” — Koster talking about Greitens’ ads that featured him firing guns and performing sit-ups.

Greitens’ ads were unusual, but they got him a primary win in a tough field. Now Greitens, a political newcomer, has to talk in more detail about how he’d run the government.

▪ “We’re talking about life and death issues here.” — Kansas state Sen. Michael O’Donnell, a Wichita Republican, speaking about KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, which is struggling with a backlog of applications to enter the program.

Lawmakers this week toured the offices of the private vendor to get a better idea what’s causing the problem.